Democrats hope to dethrone Rep. Steve King in Iowa

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is the archetypal conservative culture warrior, driving critics crazy because he is so unabashed in his views, no matter how extreme or isolating. King, for example, was the only one of 535 members of Congress, in 2009 to vote against a plaque recognizing slaves who helped build the Capitol.

But this year, deep in the partisan trenches that now define modern politics, Democrats see a chance to neutralize a key political adversary by defeating King in a race that will be a recurring flash point in the 2012 battle for political control of Washington.

“A victory over King would be a victory for sanity in Congress more than any ideological victory,” said Becky Bond, who heads a liberal super PAC that is targeting King for defeat.

Opponents point to King’s rhetoric to explain their animus. He once said terrorists would be “dancing in the streets” if President Obama won the 2008 election. He claimed that Congress was to blame for a suicidal pilot who crashed his plane into an Internal Revenue Service office in 2010 because lawmakers failed to follow King’s advice to abolish the tax agency. And King, one of the founders of the tea party caucus in the House, once called disgraced former senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) “a great American hero.”